Electroactive polymer (EAP) brushes with multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) backbones were prepd. by grafting nonconjugated polymers contg. pendant electroactive groups on the side walls of nanotubes via surface-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymn. Norbornene-functionalized MWCNTs were prepd. from 5-norbornene-2-methanol with pendant N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine. The ion-conducting monomer with pendant triethyleneoxymethyl ether groups was also synthesized by a similar reaction between norbornene-2,3-endo-dimethanol and triethylene glycol monomethyl ether tosylate. Block copolymer brushes with a shell of ion-conducting polymers surrounding the EAP were also prepd. These resultant electroactive materials exhibited high dispersibility in org. solvents and improved electroactivity and conductance, in comparison with the homo- and copolymers that were not attached to MWCNTs. [on SciFinder(R)]